Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

U.S. Men’s National Teams fans’ bragging rights over their Mexican counterparts just keep getting better and better.

On the same week that the U.S. saved Mexico from World Cup qualification elimination by rallying to beat Panama, Alejandro Bedoya scored his first goal for FC Nantes by taking advantage of an awful mistake by Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and cooly slotting a shot home. Bedoya’s 87th-minute strike came six minutes after the U.S. midfielder came off the bench and it served as a late winner for Nantes in a 1-0 victory over AC Ajaccio on Saturday.

Aron Johannsson did not score on a Mexican, but he enjoyed quite a performance as well. Johannsson, who opened his U.S. scoring account with the winner against Panama this past Tuesday, continued his fine form by scoring twice (the second was a beauty) and assisting on another goal in AZ Alkmaar’s 3-1 triumph over Cambuur Leeuwarden on Sunday. Johannsson now has seven goals in league play this season and 12 across all competitions.

Terrence Boyd also found the back of the net. Boyd completed Rapid Vienna’s comeback in a 2-2 draw with SK Sturm Graz on Sunday as he converted the slumping Green-Whites’ second second-half penalty kick in the 64th minute. The goal raises Boyd’s scoring total to six in the Austrian Bundesliga and seven in all competitions this season.

Here is how the Americans Abroad fared this weekend:

ENGLAND

Premiership

Tim Howard started and played 90 minutes in Everton’s 2-1 win vs. Hull City on Saturday.

Jozy Altidore came off the bench and played eight minutes in Sunderland’s 4-0 loss vs. Swansea City on Saturday.

Geoff Cameron did not dress in Stoke City’s 0-0 draw vs. West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

John Brooks did not dress in Hertha Berlin’s 1-0 win vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday. He is recovering from an elbow injury.

2. Bundesliga

Alfredo Morales came off the bench, played 28 minutes and received a yellow card in FC Ingolstadt 04’s 2-1 loss vs. Fortuna Dusseldorf on Sunday.

Andrew Wooten did not dress in Kaiserslautern’s 2-2 draw vs. Karlsruhe on Sunday.

Bobby Wood and TSV 1860 Munich play FC Cologne on Monday.

FRANCE

Alejandro Bedoya came off the bench, played nine minutes and scored a GOAL in FC Nantes’ 1-0 win vs. AC Ajaccio on Saturday.

NETHERLANDS

Aron Johannsson started, played 90 minutes before being substituted in stoppage time, scored TWO GOALS, had an ASSIST and received a yellow cardin AZ Alkmaar’s 3-1 win vs. Cambuur Leeuwarden on Sunday.

New manager, Steven Fletcher just coming back from injury and he’s worked with Poyet for two full weeks while Jozy just got back from international duty. Could be problems as it looks like Poyet wants to run one forward and Fletcher is his main option, but he hasn’t put anything close to a dominating performance in yet, so I’d say the striker race is wide open still at Sunderland. Poor situation though. Really didn’t expect Sunderland to be this bad, even if it’s not even a third of the way through the season.

There is no cause for concern. In the previous week Jozy had flown thousands and thousands of miles and played two WC Qualifiers. Expecting him to start yesterday would have been crazy. And while he has struggled, the entire team has been bad, Fletcher included. Jozy has actually been one of the two or three best players for Sunderland this year; not saying much, but I don’t think he’s in any danger of being benched.

Didn’t Iceman just do that?… travel thousands and thousands of miles and played a full game today? True, not all situations are the same, I think it has more to do with a new coach trying new things on a losing team.

Well, no actually. Cameron didn’t even dress. I don’t recall that he got injured and he had started all of Stoke’s prior games. Jozy, who had been starting only got the last 8 minutes. Of course, with a new coach it is hard to tell if this is related to travel and WCQs or new policy.

Have you noticed that’s one of Aaron’s go-to-moves? He fakes going left, the defender bites, and then Aaron goes right to make space. I wonder how long until defenders stop falling for that move (btw, personally it’s a great move)

Yeah I think the last time he got the player to go to the right then scored with his left though. I was hesitant to jump on the Johannson band wagon just cause we just build so many players up. However some of the skill and control he has is just so impressive. I also love how much power he can get with such a quick shot.

So great to see the guys doing well specially Aron and Bedoya! Aron just keeps on scoring goals in every game he plays and Bedoya scoring on the Mexican goalkeeper… is it just a coincidence or was this the worst week Mexico ever had? What I think might be a concern are the guys at Stoke City who are not getting any playing time at all! I mean all 3 like seriously are they that bad?? Its good for Shea to be going someplace else for a while but I think Klinsmann relies on Cameron too so just putting that out there…oh and Jozy has got to get more playing time too because his game is going to get bad if he just sits out every game. And I hope Bradley gets playing time too because we need him to get fit by next year

I get a little gamesmanship, but enough already… we ain’t done squat. I really hope we can keep our head on straight and our own house in order rather than worrying about our neighbor’s. Any thread connecting any of this to Mexico is spider-web thin. Perhaps if we have loftier international rather than regional aspirations larger than being the King of CONCACAF it would be best to stop obsessing on our southern rival. Klinsman seems to get this, I think/hope the players do. Getting the US fan-base to refocus may take a while as old habits die hard. One of the things that has gotten Mexico in the place they are is arrogance and self satisfaction resulting from dominating North America and a few beat downs of the US.

agreed. i’ve been on threads today with US fans trolling Mexico fans for their 6-1 U-17 World Cup loss to Nigeria. i understand they’re just dishing it back after all the S talking Mexican fans did, but lets keep focused. luckily our players aren’t arrogant.

agreed. i’ve been on threads today with US fans tr0lling Mexico fans for their 6-1 U-17 World Cup loss to Nigeria. i understand they’re just dishing it back after all the S talking Mexican fans did, but lets keep focused. luckily our players aren’t arrogant.

“He’s settled in very well,” Der Zakarian said. “He is technically excellent and is also prepared to work for the good of the team. His movement is always intelligent and he makes the right decisions.”

“At the moment he’s competing for the central role with Jordan Veretout,” Der Zakarian said. He’s also good on the right, which is where he plays for his country.”

Aron Jóhannsson needs to start over Clint Dempsey. Even when Clint Dempsey is 100% he’s still well behind my boy Aron in skills, work-rate, offensive and defensive contributions. I’m glad you people are finally starting to recognize this. Also, he’s not a bad looking fellow.

Dempsey at 100% has 57 Premier League goals. Aron is showing well but don’t really know if those skills will transfer at a higher level. Either way we’re going to need them both on top of there game and then some next summer.

Dempsey is not the same player he was back then. Often injured and out of form, he has no position at all right now. I think he’s a player we can rely on in stretches but he’s only in my best 11 because I think he’s versatile enough to play behind the forwards like he did at Fulham.

Jozy and AJ are the two best forwards in the US pool. That’s just a fact.

Johannsson has played 2 games for the national team and has one goal. He is very promising, but he plays in the Dutch League. Maybe he will be a star in 2018, but experience counts when it comes to the World Cup. Dempsey has played in two WC’s, is the second leading US national team scorer of all time, has the most Premier League goals of any US player in history and has been injured lately. If you saw Seattle’s game this weekend, you would know that Dempsey is almost back in form. He made one p@ss on the move that was beautiful, made a good through pass to Neagle that he should have scored on and made a move on a defender that was positively Brazilian. He was a little off on his headers which used to be one of his strongest points, but he is close to being a top player again. Fanboys have no perspective.

“plays in the Dutch League” just is not a legitimate criticism of the guy. You can say that his first goal yesterday was an “Eredivisie goal”, sure – no idea what the defender was doing. But the second? Come on. Doesn’t matter what league a guy plays in. To have the skills to do that, to finish like that – that’s class beyond anyone else in the pool right now.

Actually, it should be Landon Donovan starting over Dempsey. With Jozy up top. Dempsey will make a great super sub though. He is not the same player he was at Fulham, but I hope he can turn it around. The way he plays, he has put a lot of wear on his body, and will not be the type of player to go 90 minutes week in and week out.

I actually think Aron should be competing with Jozy for a spot, and it’s possible he can take that starting spot, if Jozy’s form drops and his Sunderland adventure continues to get worse.

…considering just about every Mexican fan spent the last three years taking every opportunity to use forums like this to beat their chests and declare they are the dominant nation in CONCACAF while simultaneously insulting our team and country I think it’s only fair we return the favor. It’s a two way street.

I understand the impulse, but… you are right, it is a two way street. Recall how classless and douchie some of those fans come across? A jab is one thing and a part of sports, but there is a point it becomes no different than a cyber pi$$-bomb…. makes no matter what colors you are flying, it ain’t cool. Like I said in an earlier post, hopefully we are ready to elevate our ambitions/expectations, move on and start thinking bigger than CONCACAF and regional rivalries. That song is played out.

Would it be possible to add what position or positions a player played in? For most of the big names its pretty obvious but some people get played out of position sometimes and once you get outside the big 4 leagues I don’t watch or read about any of these teams and so don’t know where these guys play unless they’ve been called into the national team.

Question: 4 highlight videos in Americans Abroad. 3 are Bacon highlights. In general, would you prefer to see highlights from four Americans Abroad contributing in key plays, or one guy absolutely shredding it up? I’m undecided…